


Open doors

by CravenWyvern



Series: DS Extras [50]
Category: Don't Starve (Video Game)
Genre: ...idk how to tag this, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Questioning, headcanons galore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 17:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21324220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CravenWyvern/pseuds/CravenWyvern
Summary: Learn something new every day, right?Or, William is still greatly confused but at least he's trying to figure it out.
Series: DS Extras [50]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/688443
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38





	Open doors

"We'll show you the gardens, Mister William!"

The furry claws that now grabbed firmly to his hand were still a bit of a surprise, sent that shock of nerves up his spine at the sight of blackened talons and thick bristles and the click clack of a too rough voice.

For their part, Webber had flashed him some sort of expression that might have been a smile, but it was sort of hard trying to decipher such a face. All those jagged limbs, tipped sharp and twitchy, those overblown mandibles and crooked fangs, so many round, bulbous eyes that gleamed bleach white and empty, the voice rising from inside childlike and yet...not at all. 

It still greatly unnerved William, but he did try at not showing that. He didn't want to hurt the kids feelings, after all.

Webber skipped and swung their held hand and whistled and did what most children did as they led an adult about, aside from all the spider noises, how they waved their twitchy limbs, how all their eyes blinked about at random and then in pairs, smooth black fur shiny in the sunlight. It was almost absurd, and still it felt like an odd dream, or nightmare, but William did not drag his feet and instead let himself be led forward. For all the people who seemed to be living in this odd little camp, Webber was especially excited about a newcomer.

Or, at least was outwardly so. That one fellow, the one with the painted face, he had looked almost stricken when Wilson had been introducing him to everyone. Had shaken his hand with the tilt of his head, completely mute apparently, and while William tried not to let it get to him he knew he was being watched the whole time afterward. As if he was a troublemaker, or perhaps a criminal, and it had made him distinctly uncomfortable being looked upon so.

But, at least Webber here had taken him out today. Even with him having only arrived in the late afternoon of yesterday, the old woman of the camp had said that he'll be helping as much as the rest of them.

Which he wasn't complaining about, of course he wouldn't, but it was still nerve wracking to be around so many new, somewhat odd people. Wilson had assured him that they were not bad and that they really were friendly, but had mentioned something about them perhaps being a bit...touched in the head.

Too long in this place might have been the reason, and William had been struck with insomnia last night, worried that maybe even he, too, might end up with such odd behaviors, like being unable to eat anything aside from meat, or to act as a mime in silence or to be so obsessively fascinated with fire or to have such oddly strict rules, chests full of the weirdest of things he dare not even touch as of yet.

One of them had what appeared to be tentacles! Massive spiked things, along with shriveled up specimens and round chunks of what looked to be some alien organ, speckled and interconnected with slimy bulging veins.

He had been glad he hadn't touched, since one of the ladies had wandered by and remarked that such a thing might possibly be the reproductive system.

Of what? He hadn't asked, and it had made him nauseous even trying to understand it. 

There were at the very least a few familiarities about the camp that had him not just lose his mind then and there. Wilson had busied himself with the strange machineries set in one corner of the base, and the fact he seemed so at ease at least made William try to relax. That man was a bit odd in the head as well, but having camped with him for well over a month has at least made him a familiar force. 

And then there was the overwhelming positivity from yesterday. Wilson had been right on them being friendly, even with the odd staring, and the two older men in camp had looked fairly intimidating but were quite kind really. 

That fellow Woodie had, ah, introduced him to his axe, but William had made an attempt at taking it all in stride and greeted the so named Lucy. Who, unsurprisingly, had not answered him back, though Woodie had grinned and nodded and seemed quite pleased.

The big fellow, Wolfgang, had been a surprise to meet. A bit of broken English, but according to him he used to be worse before joining the group with everyone. 

His accent was familiar, and William was still teetering on asking him about it. Perhaps they shared something in common.

For now, however, the odd array of people here that he's met so far have not quite reached the levels of nightmarish as Webber. William supposed he had taken meeting the child better than most; hesitant, and bit on edge since they were such a horrifying arachnid chimera, but even with such a rough voice Webber still talked like a child, acted like one, and Wilson had seemed fond of them as well. 

If this was indeed a nightmarish dream, it was a bizarrely complex one. 

"Wendy's at the gardens today with Mx Wx78, so you can meet them both now!" 

Webber trilled, a low warble that grew high pitched, and William internally winced as they pulled him along down a dirt path, passing birch trees and pines, berry bushes scattered about. 

"Those two, they were the ones not at camp yesterday?"

"Nooope." Webber chirped brightly, those ghastly limbs waving about as they turned their head towards him, and again their face twisted and folded in plates of chitin, many eyes blinking random in what had to be a smile of some sort. "They were camping out together cause of the full moon! We stayed behind cause we were helping fix the tents. The doggies had gotten to them."

That gave him a bit of a pause, but Webber was still tugging him along, chittering all the while.

"We even had enough silk to make a tent for you, Mister William!"

"...You made them, all by yourself?"

As all those limbs rose up twitching, the dirt path underfoot now somehow a rough made cobblestone road, William made the guess that maybe sewing wasn't much of a problem for Webber.

"Not all by ourself, no. Mister Woodie helped set up the sticks and Mister Wolfgang staked the tents down and Miss Willow helped us stretch the silk to the right size!" 

"So you all helped make them, then."

"Mhm." Webber nodded, swinging their held hand and warbling a low, clicking whistle. "We all help make camp, Mister William, cause we're all friends and family now. That's what Miss Wickerbottom says."

William turned that over in his mind, and wondered just how long these people have been stuck here, for such an odd mix to just join up and start calling each other family.

He had never been that good at being social, even when hitching rides in traveling fairs and circuses; Charlie had been the one that was friendly, that made all the friends she'd go out with after a show. 

Sometimes she invited him. Oftentimes, she didn't, but William didn't fault her on that decision. As she was always telling him, he was still trying to figure himself out.

Looking up ahead, he could see wooden fences lined up about the path, the trees clearing up as the gardens finally came into view. 

Webber hooted out an odd noise, just short of a screech, and let go of his hand to bound towards the gate.

There was a late autumn chill, enough to cut through his lavender suit and it's not at all cold hardy cloth, and crossing his arms William looked out over stone and wood walls, fencing and cobbled roads and odd statues. Neat lines of plant growth were all about, in squares and rectangles and even just rows, little signs here and there depicting a scribbled picture of each plant, a few words underneath, and as Webber ushered him inside a few butterflies rose up, red and blue and purple, a green tint to each as they went about their business. 

"This...looks really nice, Webber."

"Wendy and Miss Wickerbottom designed it!" They closed up the gate, latching it and then hopping around him, twittering all the while. "Mx Wx78's gardens are a bit further away with their beehives, but they help here sometimes."

As Webber started to lead him on, the actual scale of the place setting as they walked, William finally wrangled his words enough to voice a question he's had for the past few minutes.

"Webber, may I ask you a question?"

The spider child turned their head to look at him, a short chitter of noise as they blinked all their eyes in pairs, limbs twitching and mandibles adjusting about with all those jagged fangs. Even in the sunlight, it was still a bit unnerving.

William forced himself to stop thinking about it, internally shaking himself. Spiders were scary things, but Webber was a child.

And he did have a rather important question.

"I'm just a bit confused, is all." It was different, talking to a child over the others at that campsite, but with all those eyes on him William still felt a bit embarrassed. "You keep referring to this...Wx78 person as a...Mx?"

It felt, and sounded, a bit odd to say. Webber seemed to have a finesse with their words and at first William hadn't quite caught it, just thought he was mishearing things, but obviously now he was mistaken. Whatever it was, the child was certainly addressing the fellow in some way or another.

Perhaps another language? Woodie had said he knew French, and the mime fellow apparently spoke with his hands, somehow, so perhaps Webber was using a word they had learned before coming to this place.

Webber tilted their head, limbs wiggling about as they blinked at him, and their voice wasn't mean or condescending at all, only confused. 

"Mx Wx78?" 

William nodded nervously, clasped his hands as they gave him a somewhat unreadable spider like look. 

"That's what we call Mx Wx78, cause they don't like Miss or Mister so much." Webber twittered, low chirping escaping from their mandibles. "They said it was cause they were super-ior, and that they were better than any boy or girl anywhere anyway."

They sounded a touch confused now, and William thought over their words for a moment, feeling as if both of them were a bit unprepared for this train of thought.

This Wx78 fellow, what an odd name. Someone had mentioned yesterday that they were loud, and a bit obnoxious, but no one had ever mentioned anything else. Sort of vague, like how he had been introduced to Webber, actually.

"Well, why does everyone call you 'they', Webber? Is it the same for Wx78?"

Webber was shaking their head even before he finished speaking, twittering and wide eyed and now sounding knowledgeable, even with the incomprehensible clicking and clacking spider sounds.

"No, Mister William! We are two!" They held out a clawed hand, two talons raised, and wiggled them at him before pulling their arm back and pressing the tips of their claws to their furry chest. "Wx78, they are one! We call them that cause they asked us too, a long time ago."

There was no further explanation on the cryptid "two" answer, and Webber was twirling about on their feet, starting off on leading the way forward.

"Come on Mister William! We don't want the sun to go down without seeing Wendy and Mx Wx78!" 

William hesitated a moment, mind still turning in this rather new, sudden information, before shaking himself and getting a move on. 

He's never actually heard of someone being called 'they', he was fairly sure. Or, perhaps he has, and he just never paid any attention? Would Charlie know all about it, and he just never asked or realized?

Oh dear, now he felt a bit stupid. Webber here, a spider child of all things, knew more than him about this new phenomenon! Or was it not new at all?

Now he just felt even more confused with his thoughts. William minded a passing butterfly, red and blue on each wing as it fluttered by, and continued to follow Webbers whistles. 

He supposed he'd have to ask this oddly named Wx78 then. They might have more of an explanation, something to clear away the confusion at least.

What an odd thing! He did not even know if this Wx78 was man or woman, and now he realized he knew not the same for Webber either. Was that important then, to know that? It hadn't felt important at the time.

Webber had said that they were two, which didn't clear up anything, and Wx78 requested to be called in a specific way. Mx must be for them, then, right?

William could feel a minor headache coming in now from his floundered thinking. Oh, how he wished Charlie was here to help sort him out!

She knew about these sorts of things, right? He's never heard of this before, but she had been knowledgeable when she had helped him, so of course she'd know! 

...He still felt a little bad, that he knew so little. He'd probably still be buying all the wrong sized clothing if she hadn't set him straight all those years ago, and now he was out here with people he only barely knew, without her help.

Well, he supposed he'd need to learn more then. Charlie wasn't here to help him right now, so he had to make these decisions himself.

And, he wouldn't lie; this 'they' seemed rather intriguing. The formulation of being referred to as neither man nor woman was a rather...open ended concept, and very suddenly William felt as if there was more to it than that. 

Shaking his thoughts back into order, and quieting his newer questions, William followed after Webber as they led him about, twisting and turning through the garden and its flowers and butterflies. He'd just have to ask when he met the two.

And, for all the weirdness of being in this place, doing his best to not think about it and yet anxiously wondering if Charlie was alright, if everything was alright out there, William did have the vaguest mental sensation of a, ah, a door perhaps, being opened. 

It was the most oddest of things, in a world of odd bits and pieces, and he felt, for a split moment in the very far back of his mind, that maybe he was finally figuring something out for himself for once.

It was a nice feeling.


End file.
